Herath leapfrogs Ashwin to second place

DUBAI: Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath climbed to second spot in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after helping his side win the one off Test against Zimbabwe in Colombo by four wickets.

In the latest ICC rankings, Herath leap-frogged Ravichandran Ashwin to move within 32 points of Ravindra Jadeja, making it a one-two for left-arm spinners. He claimed his eighth ten-wicket haul and also passed the tallies of Waqar Younis (373), Malcolm Marshall (376) and Ian Botham (383) in Colombo.

Ashwin moved down to third place while James Anderson, who took seven wickets in the Trent Bridge Test, climbed one place to be tied with Josh Hazlewood on fourth.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who made fifties in each innings in Trent Bridge, returned to the top ten on the batting front. He moved six spots up to seventh.

Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, who struck centuries in the Khettarama Test, were also major gainers, achieving career-best rankings. Ervine moved up 20 places to 40th, while Raza vaulted 28 places to 48th.

Vernon Philander continued his steady rise towards the top in the all-rounders’ rankings. His man-of-the-match performance at Trent Bridge saw him rise two places to break into the top five. He also moved to ninth in the bowlers’ rankings.

Other significant movers were Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer, whose nine wickets against Sri Lanka helped him gain 20 places to a career-best 53rd, while South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj rose 12 spots to 26th after claiming six wickets against England at Trent Bridge.

Maharaj now tallies 543 points — the fourth highest by a South African spinner since the country’s return to Test cricket in 1992.